


Phoning It In

by PennywiseTheDancingClownOfDerry2001



Series: Baby You're A Haunted House [2]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: (Except I'm pretty sure I had a teacher with that name once), Aftermath of trauma, Angst, Any resemblance to a real life teacher is strictly coincidental, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Maths, OTC (Original Teacher Character), Pancake Houses, Self Isolation except I'm Actually Productive, The Author does not support truancy, The boys are handling things, a date?, mentions of major character injury, oh well, this is fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:07:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23538841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennywiseTheDancingClownOfDerry2001/pseuds/PennywiseTheDancingClownOfDerry2001
Summary: In the aftermath of an ill-advised venture into a haunted house, Cole finds that adjusting to a world where he is aware of the existence of the supernatural is not as easy as he'd like. So in order to find a way to cope with his newly broadened horizons he skips maths class. Jay comes along too.You should probably read the previous work before this one.
Relationships: Cole/Jay Walker
Series: Baby You're A Haunted House [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693921
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Phoning It In

**Author's Note:**

> So, this has now become a series as I am basically stuck at home unless I'm going to work, I will likely add to this series when inspiration strikes me. I have also decided that the title will always be from a Gerard Way song as I need some sort of stimulus here.
> 
> Work Title from "Phoning It In" by Gerard Way, because I have never related to another song more and it will now live in my soul forever.

It was strange, the return to normalcy. Returning to the school halls, pretending that everything was fine after everything they’d witnessed.

Of course, there were still physical reminders of everything that had happened that night. Kai’s leg was still in a thick white cast, adorned on all sides by a sprawling mass of signatures, and, of course, an artist’s impression of a dick, hidden away on the ankle by a mildly sleep-deprived Jay Walker.

Cole had maths last period. At the start of the year he’d decided to take the advanced course, something he bitterly regretted now. Weaving his way through the droves of students hurrying to and fro, Cole tried to remember what exactly the homework was for last night.

He hadn’t done it, he’d thought that maybe he could bullshit his way through the class anyway, though at that moment in time he couldn’t even remember what they were learning? Trigonometry? Calculus? Who the fuck cares?

No. He couldn’t go to maths, couldn’t stare at the unfamiliar letters and numbers scrawled across the whiteboard and pretend that any of it mattered.

Cole stopped and scooted his way out of the river of students, and came to rest on the embankment, marked by rows of lockers pressed snug against the peeling cream paint of the school building.

He pulled his phone from the pocket of his jeans. Numb fingers clumsily typed his password in, he only managed to bypass the lock screen by his third attempt.  
It didn’t take much deliberation before he shot off the text. _I’m skipping. Meet me by the sport shed if you wanna come with ___

__The school’s sports shed, however, was less so much a shed and more a shipping container filled with volleyballs. Here’s to public school funding. Either way, the metal was icy against the back of Cole’s neck, a welcome relief to the ache that seemed to rest in his shoulders._ _

__It didn’t take Jay long to get there. Across the field Cole could see his curly head of hair and narrow shoulders as the ginger carefully navigated the series of hidden marshes and potholes that the school field seemed to consist of. Despite his cautious approach, his battered sneakers were still smattered with mud and plant matter as he reached his boyfriend._ _

__“What’s the matter?” He wheezed out, blue eyes alight with concern as he looked up into Cole’s face._ _

__Cole exhaled; a steady stream of white steam tumbled in the afternoon air. “I just couldn’t today, you know?”_ _

__Jay nodded, slotting himself against the taller boy’s side, warm and constant._ _

__“Wanna go to Chen’s Pancake House? I could really go for a Nutella pancake.”_ _

__Cole snorted and bent down to where his school bag was resting against his feet. He rooted around, face twisted in concentration, before he pulled his car keys out.  
“Sounds like a date.” He grinned, teeth white in the dimness of the afternoon, before offering his arm. “M’lord?”_ _

__Jay cackled, a high mirthful sound that made Cole’s stomach twist and his green eyes sparkle with adoration._ _

__As they stepped through the sodden grass, it was a relief to both boys (and their unfortunately stained footwear), that Cole had arrived early that morning for another advanced class and so had parked close to the entrance._ _

__As they slid into the car, Cole immediately turned on the heaters, noticing the way Jay rubbed his hands up and down his jacketed arms. They didn’t talk on the drive, what would have been a comfortable silence broken easily by the heavy basslines that thrummed from the speakers and rattled the mirrors of the car._ _

__The sign out front of Chen’s Pancake House was as garish as its confectionary loaded menu. Neon pinks and blues broke through the gloom to assault the eyes of passers-by. As he drove into the carpark, Cole winced at the crooked park, before deciding “fuck it” and shutting off the engine._ _

__The carpark was, unlike most other carparks in their town, immaculate. Chen apparently took great pride in filling up the potholes that plagued most other motorways in the area, and likely had an employee clean up the rubbish that would surely be scattered about if he were less vigilant._ _

__That obsessive tidiness also extended to the interior of the building as the cashier glared at their mud caked shoes, before she plastered on a wide, artificial smile as they approached the counter._ _

__“Hi, welcome to Chen’s Pancake House! What can I get for you?”_ _

__Cole glanced down at his companion, only to turn back to the server when Jay indicated that he go ahead. “Uh . . .” He glanced up at the menu boards, and down at the employee’s poorly masked expression of irritation. “I’d like the . . . bananarama.”_ _

__She nodded and fixated on the screen. “One . . . bananarama and?” Her eyes fixed on Jay._ _

__“The Nutella pancakes, please!” He grinned at her, and her expression thawed somewhat._ _

__“Of course! Will you be paying separately or?”_ _

__Cole retrieved his wallet, he’d asked Jay to come out here with him, he might as well pay._ _

__The girl nodded. “That’ll be $29.85.”_ _

__“Just on card thanks.”_ _

__The eftpos machine lit up and Cole scanned the card through. As they waited for the receipt to print he replaced it in his wallet._ _

__With a flourish the girl tore the receipt free and deposited it in Cole’s waiting hand, she then handed him a table number corresponding to the one on the receipt.  
“Shouldn’t be too long!” _ _

__The boys converged to one of the many empty booths dotting the glass front of the pancake house, making themselves comfortable on opposite sides of the table.  
Without any pretence, Jay locked eyes with him, gaze steely and determined. “Are you alright?”_ _

__Cole fumbled at the directness of the question, tong leaden and heavy in his mouth. After all, what right did he have to be upset? To struggle with the violence he’d witnessed while the others who’d experienced it held their heads high and kept on keeping on? He hadn’t been hurt, he’d been scared, worried, confused, but uninjured! Cole couldn’t see it right now, but he knew if he ducked his head under the table he would be able to lock eyes with the pink scar marring the white skin of Jay’s calf through his ripped blue jeans. He was fine. He had no reason not to be!_ _

__A cold, skinny hand gripped at his trembling fingers, usually warm brown skin made to seem dull and dry by the brisk winds and biting chill._ _

__Jay’s eyes were uncharacteristically serious across the shiny, artificial tabletop. Cole forced a smile onto his face, hoping against hope that it reached his eyes. “I’m fine.” He lied, tongue flicking against his teeth, as if he were trying to further push the falsehood out into the disconsolate atmosphere of the all but abandoned diner._ _

__Jay snorted. It wasn’t a happy laugh, like the ones they would trade as they walked together on a sunny day, like they hadn’t in what seemed an eon. It was bitter and sarcastic, it made Cole’s stomach turn._ _

__“Bullshit, you know you can always tell me what’s wrong, right? You’re my boyfriend and on top of that, you’re my best friend. You can tell me anything!” A sudden grin overtook the solemn expression on his face, and he laughed. “Hell, you could tell me that you had a body in the trunk of your car, and I’d ask if you had enough shovels!”_ _

__He broke into a fit of giggles, uncaring of or just not noticing the concerned look the server gave from where she was scrubbing at a non-existent stain on one of the menu boards._ _

__Cole’s shoulders untensed, just slightly, and he winced at the slight ache in his neck. Jay’s giggling subsided and he leaned forward and crossed his arms. “So what’s wrong?”  
Cole sighed, head thudding down on the table, thick black hair falling over his eyes and muffling his words. “I just, I can’t stop thinking about it. You know?” _ _

__Jay’s eyebrows drew together in concern, he didn’t need to ask what Cole was talking about, it was on his mind just as constantly._ _

__“And I just can’t see how I can focus on maths, boring old maths, knowing what we know, after what we’ve seen! Who gives a shit about what the square root of what-fucking-ever when we know that there are forces beyond us! More powerful than us! Out to get us! I know it’s stupid, I know the others have suffered more than I did, but I just-”_ _

__He was cut off by a hand making contact with his jaw. Jay cupped his face softly, deft fingers rubbing circles against the skin. “Don’t say that, you have just as much right to be upset as anyone else, we all went in together, we are all still in this together.”_ _

__Cole smiled, spine straightening. He was right, they could do this, they would-_ _

__The moment was then cut short by Jay, leaning back against the garish red pillows of the booth. “Goddamn, I should be a speech writer!”  
Cole chuckled. “Yeah, that was pretty awesome.”_ _

__Jay giggled, nodding feverishly, then he stopped, and turned back to the dark-haired boy. “You know what we could do?” His face was suddenly pensive.  
“I don’t-”_ _

__“That was rhetorical. We should research? You know? Find out more about this-” He made a series of gestures in the air, that Cole roughly translated to meaning ‘ghost thing’. “Think about it, if what’s stressing you out, and no doubt the others too, is that we know just enough about these things to be scared of them, but not how to stop them, then we learn how to stop them!”_ _

__Cole looked at him. “But where would we learn? Like Buzzfeed Unsolved? Watching _The Exorcist _?”___ _

____Jay waved that all away. “No, no. Like journals, finding experts and shit, we’re all pretty smart, we could do that right?”_ _ _ _

____“But then what would we do with all that stuff? Become the goddamn Ghostbusters?”_ _ _ _

____“Well, maybe we could start with sleeping better at night.”_ _ _ _

____Cole relaxed even more. “Sounds like a plan.”_ _ _ _

____There was a sparkle in Jay’s eye. “Of course, there is. You know I’m always right. “It was then that they were interrupted by the cashier, Cole now noticed that her badge read ‘Beth’. “One bananarama, and one Nutella pancakes.” She listed, depositing the pancakes accordingly. “Enjoy your meal.”_ _ _ _

____The pancakes were wonderful. Cole dug in with more excitement than he had any meal in ages. They had a plan. They would get through this._ _ _ _

____It was then that Cole’s phone started ringing. Marked by annoyingly generic ring tone that he would have to change soon as Jay said that it always put him in mind of “that one bit in the third Jurassic Park movie where the dinosaur eats a guy while he’s on the phone and then they spend the rest of the movie determining where it is by the ring tone.” Cole had never seen the third Jurassic Park movie, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to, no matter how many times Jay had threatened/ promised to make him sit through it._ _ _ _

____Swiping to answer the call, Cole put it up to his head in one smooth motion. The cheap plastic of its case dug into his ear. “Hey Nya, what’s up?”_ _ _ _

____The clock on the wall read that it was quarter past three, the last period of classes had likely just ended. Nya was in Cole’s advanced maths class, by merit of the fact that her teachers had deemed her smart enough to take the maths courses of the grade above her, something that Kai was endlessly annoyed about, especially given that he had failed three maths tests this semester alone._ _ _ _

____“Where were you? Miss Thompson was really disappointed when you didn’t show up.” Miss Thompson had, as most teachers tend to do, decided that Cole was her favourite student due to his ease in answering the more difficult questions, however, recently he had seen her grow more and more upset with him as he failed to reach her expectations for what he should be achieving in class. Yet another great reason to skip!_ _ _ _

____Cole was silent a moment, chewing on his lip. “I know I should have been there, but I really don’t think I was in the right frame of mind for maths today.”_ _ _ _

____Nya hummed down the line and Cole reached over the table to hold his boyfriend’s hand again, now warm thanks to the good work of the diner’s elaborate heating system. “So, we decided to phone it in.”_ _ _ _


End file.
